Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb

ISBN - 9780006480105FIRST PUBLISHED - March, 1997PAGES - 752GENRE - FantasyPUBLISHER - VoyagerSOURCE - eBookAUTHOR - Robin HobbSYNOPSIS - Fitz has survived his first hazardous mission as king’s assassin, but is left little more than a cripple. Battered and bitter, he vows to abandon his oath to King Shrewd, remaining in the distant mountains. But love and events of terrible urgency draw him back to the court at Buckkeep, and into the deadly intrigues of the royal family.

Renewing their vicious attacks on the coast, the Red-Ship Raiders leave burned-out villages and demented victims in their wake. The kingdom is also under assault from within, as treachery threatens the throne of the ailing king. In this time of great danger, the fate of the kingdom may rest in Fitz’s hands—and his role in its salvation may require the ultimate sacrifice.QUOTES -

No man is so dangerous as the man who cannot decide what he fears.

One can only walk so far from one's true self before the bond either snaps, or pulls one back.

It’s not the kind of work a man does that says he can be proud or not. It’s how he does it.

FL Speak - I think Robin Hobb did a far better job in this book, both at plot and character growth. For those of you who have read this book, tell me, did you find it tedious at times or did you nod your head through it? Did you read it as an adult going through just another fantasy or did you live it through the eyes of our 16-17 year old lead character? Authors have this extraordinary ability to weave emotions to words. They live multiple lives, shedding characters as they see fit. As readers, we often do not distinguish between the various characters, their experiences, their ages or their genders. Grave as this error might be, we fail to admit it to ourselves. So when I read about our young Fitz, I completely accepted that their will be lots of emotional drama. After all, every teenager has those days and it would be extremely illogical if authors had to skip those. I became his shadow. I lived his life. I felt his pain and my heart fluttered when he found his love. Like every other teen, a person spends an insurmountable amount of time mooning over their loved ones and no advice can change that. (Even though, at the age of 28, I find the process of reading those paragraphs extremely irksome and wanted nothing more than to skim to the pages where there was more action, I remember my younger days where I did the same things. Fell in love and wanted to stay there while the world had other plans for me) Fitz finally grows up in this book. Not to an adult yet, but he has grown beyond his years. One part brave, three parts fool. There is also considerable time spent in doubting himself, which can be quite a chore. Robin Hobb made sure that if we are to read about the ecstasy and the adventures, we have to go through the bits that sometimes lulls you to sleep. The ending was quite a nasty shock for me. I'm actually not looking forward to the next book. At least the first 100 pages. This is going to take all my guts. Did I miss something? RATING - 4/5Picture Credit : Robin Hobb